Groggy, Oliver was pulled out of his sleep by the fitful movement at his side. He turned to face the pretty blonde that shared his bed - and now his life - and she tossed and turned in a feverish state. Nightmares were common for both of them, having gone through enough in their lifetime to car them to the bone, and they had both learned to not wake the other during these times. It was best to wait until the other woke up naturally and then soothe them afterwards.
It didn't take long for Chloe to startle herself awake, jerking into an upright position, her eyes wide and glossy. Carefully, Oliver reached out to smooth back her sweaty hair. "It's okay Chloe. I'm here. It's okay. It's going to be okay." With deep breaths in and out, Chloe gradually calmed down. "Want to talk about it?" he asked softly.
For a moment he thought she might not answer. Sometimes the nightmares were too fresh to speak out loud. Once she had gathered her nerves, however, she said, "I, uh, I dreamed I was being buried alive."
The fingers that were combing through her hair paused. Unsurely, he questioned with a gentle tone, "Was this just a nightmare, or was it a memory?" A part of him didn't want to hear the truth, too afraid of the reality being spoken into existence.
"In high school." Her voice wavered, and her eyes shined with unshed tears. Oliver moved closer to her, guiding her into his comforting embrace. "There was a detective who...who…" she shook her head as if to rid herself of the memory, to shake the dirt off her skin, to shake the fresh air back into her lungs. "It's ridiculous," she was crying now, still shaking her head. "After all the things I've witnessed since - so much worse things - I still have trouble sleeping because of something so simple."
He held her tighter to his body. "There is nothing simple about being buried alive Chloe." Though he kept his voice soft, his words themselves were stern.
Chloe was listening. "I wasn't even in danger. Not really." The tears were flowing freely now and it broke Oliver's heart. "The guy, he would have found me before there was too much damage."
Anger rushed through Oliver. "He did that to you so he could be seen as a hero." It didn't matter that Oliver didn't have a way to identify the man, he was imagining the torture that he would inflict upon him. How dare this man traumatize his beautifully strong Chloe - a man who was supposed to protect the innocent - all so that he could 'play' at being hero.
"And Clark saved me. Like always. With Lana's help." She gave another shaky breath. "So no reason to be…" her body tensed and her lips trembled, "to be like this."
With a sigh, Oliver wiggled himself further onto the bed so he could rearrange Chloe so that she rested comfortably on his chest, resting his onto her hair. He hugged her securely to him unwillingly to let her go. "However it ended, it doesn't change or belittle the fear that you went through."
It didn't lessen the panic that had gripped her when she awoke to a suffocating darkness, breathing in nothing but stale air and dirt.
Chloe cried harder, letting herself go. All Oliver could do was hold onto her, running his hand up and down in a soothing rhythm, allowing her the time and grace to overcome the trauma that she had never taken the time to acknowledge, and therefore take the time to fully heal from.